a fast moving creek floods into its banks. and chp temporarily shutting traffic. good evening. >> in pacifica wind driven waves pounded the pier and that along with strong winds prompted the pier closure. some people said they saw waves crashing on top of the pier.

>> shoppers were focused on catching the limited shopping hours until the holiday. and officers put out flairs to stop people from driving through several feet of water. we have team coverage, mark tamayo is pinpointing the rainfall. deborah villalon is following the rainfall and jade hernandez is in an area where the power outages have happened. >> reporter: before this happened we were going to show you that the water had receded right here. the water had come down. look at the mud. the mud goes up all this way right here. there are still tonight

concerns that this storm has brought. >> we're moving everybody back. >> reporter: police ushered the crowd across the street as the creek crested. >> the trick is where the straight areas where it flows there's no problem with the flooding of it. it's the bends wherever the creek bends is a vulnerable spot. >> reporter: this isn't a new situation for long time menlo park homeowner ron garcia. >> in 1998 we weren't living here at the time but there was a flood in the basement and we lost our water heater, you can see the water mark. >> reporter: the couple had already put sandbags in front of the garage as they continue to monitor the flood level. we watched this man at university avenue check for storm drain blockage with his bare hands. >> it didn't become the issue until i saw brown water coming down. >> which is where this guy

parked his car. after we alerted him of the water he walked out barefoot to move it. the slow traffic was forced northbound. the palo alto's emergency operation center is active within the past hour, in fact, i just talked to the chief about 10 minutes ago, the menlo park chief said they're worried right now about the levy in east palo alto. water is up and over the levy so they called an engineer out. thanks to those concerns the area is open. you can check back here in about 30 minutes we're going to give you an update and give you an update after what's going on right there. here's another look at what the area looked like within the last few minutes you can see a lot -f watt -- a lot of water pooling on the road. the highway patrol is running breaks in the area for drivers trying to keep the drivers at

slow speeds. isn't the north bay the napa river a is at near flood stage. the water also opened up a sink hole. debora villalon continues our coverage in napa. >> reporter: you can see in napa the water is running high but well within its banks. good considering how the water battled the north bay. in the battle between cars and rain, the rain sometimes wins. further west where many roads were shut down some folks

folks forged their way against warnings. steel plates were sealed on to stoney point road. but this was just one temporary patch on one trouble spot. >> we have a little break in the storm, and we can watch up, get our heads above the water and get a break and fix some of the problems that we do have out there. >> reporter: rain pummeling the landscape faster than it can drain away has pounded this petaluma neighborhood before. >> when the sun comes out, the water will wash away. >> reporter: were you worried at all? >> a little bit. just a little bit. >> reporter: in forestville, high winds brought a tree down on a to a house. an all day clean up but

fortunately no one was injured. today carolers sang in the area. >> i think that we thought we would come out and sing carols to bring people's spirits up. because the rain sometimes brings people's spirits down. >> reporter: this is where the river is topping off more than a food above flood stage right now. but any water that spills over there mostly go into vineyards. we're live in napa, debora villalon. rain fell in santa cruz county throughout much of the day causing rock slides, accidents and even evacuations. the highway patrol said it got a call about this mud slide on highway 17 near sugar loaf road around 3:30 this afternoon. the slide is making southbound travel very slow going. crews were able to open one lane to traffic but there's no word on when the other lane will reopen. at ben lomond a power tree brought down power lines

causing the closure near el solly heights. work crews tried to clear the line. sheriff deputies evacuated people from 60 homes after the river spilled its banks. mark tamayo tells us that river reached about 2 feet above flood stage and is now receding. several storm drains clogged with debris sending mud over the roadway. crews shut the road and will work well into the night to try to clear all that debris. the rainfall rates have been backing off. in fact, the coverage has been backing off as well. we still have a flood warning to talk about out toward napa river. that flood warning posted into the overnight hours but i have a feeling this could be lifted by the weather service coming up in a few hours. right now going down to just over 12 feet and that is below

flood stage at 6 feet. napa 23.4 feet pretty close to flood stage but down to about 4:00 tomorrow morning. that flood warning officially still in place. as far as russian river looking okay. tomorrow morning at 11:00, 30.9 feet now gradually coming down into the afternoon hours. we have been watching palo alto a lot with that river, the creek going up quite a bit today. look at all that rainfall over 2-inches and the bulk of this just over probably about a three or four hour period. you can see the graph showing t trend with that creek there. topping flood stage earlier this evening -- the trend with the creek there, topping flood stage earlier this evening. right now we have clear to partly cloudy skies across most of the region. there's a live sweep. thankfully we have a big break in the action in palo alto which is a few spots down there. maybe a few lingering showers, very light outside of morgan

hill. up in the north bay partly cloudy skies out near santa rosa and the napa region. i am tracking another storm. this is what it looks like on highway 85 on squaw valley earlier today. three snow boarders triggered the avalanche. three skiers had minor injuries. everyone was accounted for about an hour later. it was very slow going for people going to the sierra. 80 at truckee was at a standstill. you can see the line of cars there on the left hand side of your screen. drivers should carry food, water and blankets. as is often the case with today's wind and rain came delays at san francisco

airports. sfo duty manager says departs flights are 45 to 90 minutes behind schedule and at least 57 flights have been cancelled. san jose airport is reporting just a handful of delays and a duty manager for oakland airport says thins there are running smoothly. we have a link on ktvu.com to track your flight just look under hot topics. the storm today caused power line problems across the bay area tonight. thousands of people are still without electricity. according to pg & e more than 2,000 people are out of power in the north bay. 3,300 in the south bay. 390 on the peninsula and 340 in the east bay. the rainy weather may have played a role in a number of accidents in the bay area. a crash in emeryville slowed traffic to a crawl. the accident happened right before the mcarthur maze.

four vehicles were involved in this crash. the road were wet at the time but the highway patrol has not said what exactly caused that pile up. another multi car accident this one in oakland sent one person to the hospital with minor injuries. it happened just before 5:00 a.m. on northbound 880 near the 11th street exit. that accident involved a total of nine vehicles. an officer is recovering after a driver slammed into his patrol car. the driver was responding to an accident in san leandro. the drivers that you see were speeding, slid on the road and were stuck in the mud. while he was waiting for help, another driver rear ended his cruiser. >> no actually i don't think it's weather related i think it's speed related i think it's folks needing to pay attention. >> the officer involved was taken to the hospital to be

checked out there were no other injuries reported. our storm coverage continues online just visit ktvu.com. there you can find our storm tracker 2 radar. just look under the storm watch tab on the home page. the holiday weekend is in full swing and the dui numbers are not good. the special teams being deployed to try to keep the streets safe. >> look, a gun is a tool. >> the head of the national rifle association defends his controversial proposal to put armed guards at schools. plus the surprising response from an unlikely source. >> also how researchers are using cell phone towers to try to ease the bay area's traffic congestion. well, well, well.

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rethink possible. rain pounded the pavement in oakland this afternoon and flowed swiftly to storm drains across the city. a drench that had many people running to their cars today. the storm has both forced fremont police to -- cancel a dui checkpoint instead those officers will be out on the roads looking for drunk drivers. >> reporter: as if the pouring rain and wet roads weren't dangerous enough. >> you think a lot of people are drinking and driving out there? >> yes, yes.

because it's a holiday. that's what they do. >> reporter: the california highway patrol reports drunk driving has already caused 15 fatal crashes on california roadways during this first part of the long holiday weekend. that's compared to just three deaths during the same period a year ago. >> when you mix alcohol and you mix the rain, you have a bad recipe there and it's usually a recipe for disaster. >> reporter: in the first two days of a maximum enforcement period in the bay area the chp says there have been three fatal crashes and 111 dui arrests. >> we've seen a lot of people being involved in collisions because they might have a little alcohol on board and be driving way above the speed limit. >> reporter: we saw that ourselves driving on 880 this afternoon. each chp officer in the bay -- office in the bay area are sending out special teams to look for dui drivers. >> as many as fremont can get out i appreciate it. i'm sorry they can't be with their family but believe me, as

a citizen of fremont i greatly appreciate it. >> reporter: despite this recent spike in arrests, the numbers have been steadily declining over the last several years. in fremont, eric rasmussen. retailers say holiday sales this weekend have been the best since black friday. stores are reporting modest gains as shoppers take advantage of all the last minute sales and longer hours. shopper track analysis has increased to 3.5 increase over last year. online sales continue to be hot and com scores reporting a 16% jump from 2011. a key senator expressed optimism that the government will be able to avoid the so called fiscal cliff. >> the president was about 200 billion higher on revenues. boehner 200 billion higher on spending cuts. out of a trillion dollar budget that doesn't seem

unsurmountable so i would hope they would keep talking. >> congress is expected to be back in session by thursday. without a deal tax hikes for all americans and deep spending cuts will be triggered on january 1st. the head of the national rifle association today defended his group's refusal to consider any form of gun control. >> look a gun is a tool. the problem is the criminal. every police officer that walks the street knows if you want to control violent crime take violent criminals off the street. >> on friday the nra called for armed guards in schools as the best way to prevent shootings like the one in newtown connecticut. today warner a supporter of gun ownership called for mental health care as a way to protect schools. religion leaders prayed for peace and called for action to

prevent gun violence. church members held sunday service then a town hall forum to answer questions and spark discussion. actor and activist danny glover and jeremiah wright. glover says the connecticut shooting has brought a problem dealt with daily, gun violence. >> daily in light of what has happened in newtown connecticut, don't you give up on me. because now it is time for you to act. >> a group of san francisco faith leaders met with leaders to discuss what they can do to help. they hope to have similar meetings in the months to come. the key to solving bay area traffic problems could come from cell phone towers. a uc berkeley team says their study is the first that data from cell phone towers and gps devices have been used to track traffic and their research could be used to can

cut down your drive time. stop and go traffic and break lights are part of life here. now researchers from uc berkeley have released a study that could ease traffic troubles. >> we demonstrated we can use smart phones and in particular cell tower data to pinpoint where congestion is coming from. which people are contributing most to congestion and where that could be delegated. and were able to track traffic and people's driving patterns. researchers said they identified certain trouble spots and learned that drivers originating from hayward and san jose seemed to contribute most to traffic congestion in the bay area. >> traffic is bad in the bay area. traditionally we're among the worse in the nation. >> reporter: a spokesman for the metropolitan transportation commission says the study provides useful information,

prior to the study, staff could only rely on readers to estimate traffic flow. >> it incorporates vehicle information on the arterials and the roads that feed into the freeways rather than just on the freeways themselves. >> the data could be used in the future to determine whether to place metering lights and fine tune the timing. >> we're going to go to the field and change feeder lights to demonstrate some real improvements. >> professor bian says they will be looking at los angeles next to do traffic studies there. a deadly day in syria as more than 100 people are killed while simply waiting in line. >> a british newspaper says cyclist lance armstrong owes the paper more than a million dollars. why they want the disgraced cyclist to pay up. today's storm continues to move out of the bay area. coming up the one part of the region that picked up over 5- inches of rain today and the timing of another storm that

could impact your christmas plans. w

ktvu news producer bell stock just sent us a picture of this tree that fell and smashed a parked car. it happened near p era lta boulevard. the tree is so heavy it will take a forklift to remove it. the tree barely missed falling on to a second car. president obama and first lady attended the funeral for the late senator, senator inouwe. he was buried in the cemetery known as the punch bowl. he served in congress since 1959. he died last week from

respiratory problems. reed called inouwe a leader. reports indicate the town in syria had not had ingredients for bread until a week until an aide group delivered provisions next week. hundreds of people had lined up to get food when the gunfire hit. investigators say it appears an electrical short may have started the fire. no one was injured but it is estimateed the fire cost millions of the dollars of damage. a new research on global warming indip in -- indicate that is the an -- the antartic sheet is warming twice as fast. the study suggests the ice sheet is not just melting from the bottom it's previously thought it's melting from the top as well. it's lawsuit and now

counter suit for lance armstrong and a british newspaper wants compensation from a liable suit. armstrong sued the uk sunday times a year ago when the paper reported that armstrong had taken performance drugs. armstrong had received a settlement. but since the u.s. doping agency has declared that armstrong ran a doping group, the paper has counter sued. more delays for the california crabbing season. we'll explain what's holding up fishermen for the third time this season. [ singing christmas carols in background ] aunt sally's singing again.

it's a tradition, honey. [ singing christmas carols ] mmmm. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands! cinnamon rolls. [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ get to holiday fun faster with pillsbury cookie dough.

an 80-foot oak tree fell on a house in los gatos. it pierced the roof and took out power. pg & e crewed worked to clear the branches away from power lines. seems like commercial crab fishermen in northern california will have to wait a little bit longer to set their traps again. for the third time the department of fish and game delayed the opening of dungenese crab season. they delayed the opening because tests show the crabs body weight is less than 25% meat. the season was set to start december 31st. fish and game says the opening date cannot be delayed beyond january 15th. bay area air quality officials are asking residents not to burn wood in their fireplaces or wood stoving tonight and tomorrow. they have not declared spare the air days however there are

concerns that as the weather clears the wood smoke could cause smoke pollution to build up throughout the bay area. volunteers were busy this morning in san francisco collecting food for those in need. >> two more hams. >> yay. >> reporter: this woman braved the rain to help collect hams for the st. anthony foundation for the annual christmas dinner. st.anthony's is trying to collect 4,000 hams for the people expected on christmas day. the economic situation has made the need everyone greater this year. >> it's enormous. i think in general people are concerned about the fiscal cliff. some people who donate to st. anthony's are concerned about what happens. others are concerns there's going to be service cuts. volunteers from a fremont siek several were also at hand to pass out blankets for those

who came indoors. tonight a pointient poem written by a homeless man. >> tell you about a real poem. that is part of my life, writing. that poem just came to me. and i wrote it the way it came to me. >> a lot of parts touch my heart, touch home. but i have had friends that have died in the streets being homeless. >> every day you see things that shouldn't be. because people are lacking love. >> that is why it's so important to have people on the street who care about you. when you're out here at night and you're alone it's a frightening feeling. >> i met him in line waiting for a bowl of soup and a piece of bread and soon, we were

inseparable. where he walked i walked. >> and he took his blanket and came over to me and wrapped it around my shoulders. i didn't know him. he didn't know me. but we were homeless together. and that made us brothers. >> you either run away from your situation or fight your way out of it. and right now i'm trying to fight my way out and feel like a human being again. >> when i was on the street i didn't want you to throw money at me. i wanted you to sit down with me and have a cup of coffee and treat me like a human being. >> so let us not be demonized, stereo typed, let us not be

cast aside, marginnized. let us rise above the fear. let us rise beyond the sooty streets. >> i used to look at people who were homeless in the same way people look at me and i understand now what it's about. anybody can be in this position. >> whatever your name is, i am you. whatever language you were born into, i am you. i am in every postso that hungers for justice and the right to love. >> i think christmas is an every day thing. you celebrate christmas every day. >> peace on earth and all the people that are out there homeless be able to find a place to be warm and have a good meal and be safe. >> christmas is really about that everybody feels some love that's out here on the street.

some love from somebody. >> the one thing that i gained from being homeless was to love and the young self-lessness of the young people who share had the experience with me. >> merry christmas to all the homeless people around the world and never give up on life. because life is what comes to you and you have to take it how it comes. >> what does christmas mean to me? another day. just another day. >> again that was ktvu photo journalist handre. you can see this and other interviews on christmas day, it starts december 25th at noon and 5:30 p.m. all right, some scary moments tonight in the south bay. what happened to the driver of this tow truck that flipped over after colliding with a car. >> meteorologist mark tamayo has been very busy watching today's storm all day long.

he'll let us know how much rain has fallen in your area and what to expect for christmas. [ boy's voice ] hey guys...what're you doing?

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there's something you don't see every day, a tow truck driver flipped his rig over after crashing into a car on wet streets tonight. the accident happened at third and oak street in s era toga. firefighters rescued the tow truck driver who was taken to the hospital with serious injures. the car driver walked away apparently okay. there has been so much rain throughout the area. meteorologist mark tamayo has been studying it. we've seen you back there and there's really been a lot of rain in key areas. >> lots of rain in the mountains. today's storm the third one definitely the strongest.

the radar loop over the past few hours will take you back in time to about 7:00 this morning. this was a pattern putting this into motion. you see all those yellows and reds moving into the area. santa rosa over 2-inches of rain. fairfield over an inch. san francisco an inch. san jose 1.20 and look at boulder creek over 5-inches of rain over the past 24 hours. thankfully the storm is moving off to the east and still producing some significant snow out toward the sierra. here's the latest with the sierra snow. we'll come in tighter, these are all weather observation reports from some of the spotters out there as we do come in tighter we'll take a look at a couple of them here. you will notice this out toward incline village. heavy snow. this is at 6:18 this morning over 39-inches of snow. over 3 feet of snow with this, that was early this morning so they have likely picked up, they have definitely picked up more over the past 12 hours. right now on live storm tracker 2 the rain clouds are moving out.

we do have rain clouds across the region. we will hold on to that weather pattern. we do have a break. maybe a slight chance of a sprinkle early tomorrow morning. this is a cold front responsible for all the active tiff for today. so tomorrow the dry weather forecast partly cloudy skies, this rain could be heading down toward southern california in a much weakened state. much weaker state. and then into christmas day our next system approaches. this will definitely increase the cloud cover and forecast models are increasing rainfall probabilities over the bay area on christmas day. especially as we do head into the afternoon and into the evening hours. here is our forecast model showing you the cloud cover right now. we'll put this into motion. tomorrow just partly cloudy skies to start out your monday morning. most areas in the low to mid- 40s then into the afternoon hours a few extra high clouds. this is for tuesday morning. but monday partly cloudy skies. tuesday starting out dry but look what happens that rain approaches as we head into the

afternoon hours. so for christmas day increasing rain chances especially after 1:00 or 2:00. but this system much weaker than the one that moved through today but still producing light to moderate rainfall. temperatures for tomorrow mainly in the 50s. so after the cool start we're talking about cool temperatures for the afternoon as well. low to mid-50s for santa rosa and antioch. san francisco maxes out at 51 degrees. there's that rain cloud on christmas day especially for the afternoon hours. slight chance of a shower into wednesday. partly cloudy on thursday. we're going to thicken up the cloud cover throughout the day on friday. there's a slight chance of a shower on saturday with partically cloudy skies on sunday. just an amazing day. we started out the day with extreme rainfall rates of gusty winds. you could be walking underneath the stars with the storm heading out of town. >> dramatic change. thank you mark. coming up the radars quarterback palmer gets knocked

against the panthers we'll tell you why his replacement surprised some fans. >> sports wrap is next. [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow, you guys have it easy.

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good evening everyone thanks for joining our sunday night edition of sports wrap. there were so many questions before tonight's game between the 49ers and seahawks in seattle but who thought the biggest question would be will the seahawks score 50 points for the third straight game. did the 49ers miss justin smith tonight in seattle you bet cha. but it rained the entire game and it was loud from start to finish just the way the seahawks love it.

it's lynch 25-yard touchdown makes it 7-0. lynch was in his self-described beach mode. he also catches this touch down pass by wilson. it's 14-0. were the niners worn out from last week's game. yes. and the seahawks impose their pain. replay shows that he was just playing old fashion slobber knocker football. field goal kicker akers frustrating season, it keeps him on it. richard sherman scoops it and scores. this guy played for harbaugh and this is the way simpson treats him. he's seen heading away that way again. and someone gives pete carol an umbrella. ley